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The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC),
RECOGNISING the authority and responsibility of IOTC to manage bigeye tuna in the IOTC area of competence (“Convention Area”), at the international level;
RECOGNISING ALSO the nature of the international market for bigeye tuna in the Convention Area;
RECOGNISING ALSO that there is uncertainty on the catch of bigeye tuna in the Convention Area and that the availability of trade data would greatly assist in reducing such uncertainty;
RECOGNISING ALSO that bigeye tuna is the main target species of “flag of convenience” fishing operations and that most of the bigeye tuna harvested by such fishing vessels are exported to Contracting Parties, especially to Japan;
RECALLING that the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has established its Bluefin Tuna, Bigeye Tuna and Swordfish Statistical Document Programs, and that the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) has also established its Southern Bluefin Tuna Statistical Document Programme;
RECOGNISING that the Statistical Document Programme is an effective tool to assist the Commission’s effort for the elimination of IUU fishing operations;
RECOMMENDS, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article IX of the Agreement, that,
Contracting Parties, by July 1, 2002 or as soon as possible thereafter, require that all bigeye tuna, when imported into the territory of a Contracting Party, be accompanied by an IOTC Bigeye Tuna Statistical Document which meets the requirements described in Annex I or an IOTC Bigeye Tuna Re-export Certificate which meets the requirements described in Annex II. Bigeye tuna caught by purse seiners and pole and line (bait) vessels and destined principally for the canneries in the Convention Area are not subject to this statistical document requirement. The Commission and the Contracting Parties importing bigeye tuna shall contact all the exporting countries to inform them of this Programme in advance of the implementation of the Programme.
1) The IOTC Bigeye Tuna Statistical Document must be validated by a government official or other authorised individual or institution of the flag State of the vessel that harvested the tuna, or, if the vessel is operating under a charter arrangement, by a government official or other authorised individual of the exporting state, and;
2) The IOTC Bigeye Tuna Re-export Certificate must be validated by a government official or other authorised individual or institution of the state that re-exported the tuna.
Each Contracting Party shall provide to the IOTC Executive Secretary sample forms of its statistical document and re-export certificate required with bigeye tuna imports and information on validation in the format specified in Annex IV, and inform him/her of any change in a timely fashion.
The Contracting Parties which export or import bigeye tuna shall compile data from the Programme.
The Contracting Parties which import bigeye tuna shall report the data collected by the Programme to the IOTC Executive Secretary each year by April 1 for the period of July 1 – December 31 of the preceding year and October 1 for the period of January 1 – June 30 of the current year, which shall be circulated to all the Contracting Parties by the IOTC Executive Secretary. The formats of the report are attached as Annex III.
The Contracting Parties which export bigeye tuna shall examine export data upon receiving the import data mentioned in paragraph 5 above from the IOTC Executive Secretary, and report the results to the Commission annually.
The Contracting Parties should exchange copies of statistical documents and re-export certificates to facilitate the examination mentioned in paragraph 6, consistent with domestic laws and regulations.
The Commission shall request Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties to take the measures described in the above paragraphs.
The IOTC Executive Secretary shall request information on validation from all the Non-Contracting Parties/Entities/Fishing Entities fishing and exporting bigeye tuna to Contracting Parties, and request them to inform him/her in a timely fashion of any changes to the information provided.
The IOTC Executive Secretary shall maintain and update information specified in paragraphs 3 and 9 and provide it to all the Contracting Parties, and promptly circulate any changes.
The Commission shall request the Non-Contracting Parties which import bigeye tuna to cooperate with implementation of the Programme and to provide to the Commission data obtained from such implementation.
Implementation of this Programme shall be in conformity with relevant international obligations.
At the initial stage of the programme, the statistical documents and the re-export certificates will be required for frozen bigeye tuna products. Prior to implementing this Programme for fresh products, several practical problems need to be solved, such as guidelines to ensure procedures to handle fresh products at customs.
The statistical documents for bigeye tuna caught by fishing vessels flying the flag of a Member State of the European Community may be validated by the competent authorities of the Member State whose flag the vessel flies or by those of a different Member State where the products are landed, provided the corresponding quantities of bigeye tuna are exported outside the Community from the territory of the Member State of landing.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Article IX, paragraph 4, of the Agreement, the Contracting Parties shall implement this recommendation [Resolution] by July 1, 2002 or as soon as possible thereafter in accordance with the regulatory procedures of each Contacting Party.
